Cai Lun (c. 50–121) was the Han-dynasty court official conventionally credited with inventing modern papermaking: in 105 AD he presented Emperor He with paper made from tree bark, hemp, old rags and fishnets — a cheap, light writing medium that replaced bamboo strips and silk.
Paper existed in China before him, but his standardized process — pulping fiber in water, draining it on a flat screen, drying it into sheets — is the method the world still uses, and the one that carried writing, bureaucracy and literature across civilizations.
